Greener Pastures
by Karin-sama
Summary: The Department of Chibi-Neko Social Services is at it again! How many nekos can Karin-sama possibly handle? Still, this one is pretty cute, though he look more like a cow pretending to be a cat. . .say Dane-kun, be nice to Keisuke.


Greener Pastures  
  
by: Karin-sama  
  
Disclaimer: No chibi-nekos were harmed in the writing of this fic. (Has always wanted to say that) I've picked up a few new characters along the way, but none of them belong to me. Gundam Wing, Fruits Basket, and Fushigi Yugi people all have different owners (who could at least bother to feed them once in a while! You'd think I was running a circus!)  
  
Summary: The Department of Chibi-Neko Social Services is at it again! What happens when a rather difficult to handle chibi-neko gets sent to Karin-sama? We'll never know since he got lost on the way over! (bad summary, really bad summary. Summary quality does NOT indicate that of the following fic. . I hope) Here we go.  
  
  
  
"Duo-chan, my keys if you don't mind?" Karin-sama was calling to the ceiling from the middle of the living room (the last known location of the mischief maker) with her purse on her shoulder and her fists on her hips. That was how Dane-kun found her upon entering the house that morning. "Duo-chan?" He smiled into his hand, wondering how an outside person would have reacted to the scene.   
  
"Ya want to take my truck, Karin-chan?" Dane-kun offered quickly, wanting to be of assistance as often and in as many ways as he possibly could. He jangled the keys in her direction. She gave him a steely glare that read as clear as anything that a person of her sophistication simply did not arrive at important meetings in a truck. Well, actually, the glare was meant to get him to stay quiet about the truck because she didn't want to give Duo-chan anymore ideas, especially since it was getting time to leave. But whatever the real meaning was, Dane-kun hid the keys quickly in his pocket.  
  
"Duo-chan, I really need those keys."  
  
"I'll give them back if I can go and see Skippy-san with you." Came a voice that seemed to be originating in all directions at once. That was one trick of Duo-chan's that Karin-sama never could figure out. She sighed deeply.  
  
"We've already discussed this. You don't even remember Skippy, there's a good chance I could lose one if not all of you at the train station, and you all agreed to stay here with Dane-kun so why don't you -" That did it. At the mention of Dane-kun there came a scrambling from up the stairs, in the kitchen, and even from the den as five chibi-nekos rushed their friend. There were several squeals of, "Dane-kun, hello!" "So great to see you Dane-kun!" "What are we going to do today, Dane-kun?" Karin-sama sweatdropped, but did have the mind to pluck her keys out of Duo-chan's back pocket.  
  
"All right, you five, I'm leaving," she called over Dane-kun's laughter. "Look after Dane-kun while I'm gone."  
  
"Hai hai, Karin-sama, we will."   
  
"Take care, Karin-chan," Dane-kun told her over his shoulder as he was being led off by a pack of fun craving chibis. Karin-sama sighed again as she escaped easily to the car. It was so difficult to be the responsible one all the time. Especially because now she had to leave her house on a perfectly beautiful Saturday when her and the chibi-nekos, and probably Dane-kun, could have all gone down to the park, or the beach, or they could even have had a picnic in the backyard for all she cared. Now she had to drive clear into the city just because of a message left on her answering machine two days ago that had been more than a little fuzzy and more than likely expected her to do something she wasn't all that eager to do.  
  
"Miss Karin? Hello, this is *garbled by static* from the Department of *static* Social Services." That was when she sat down on the couch. The Department. Not again. "Our records show that you have proven yourself a very *static* of chibi-nekos." The message grew worse as it went on, until the only thing she knew was that they wanted her to meet Skippy at the train station at *something that sounded like twelve* twenty six. As she was more than a little curious as to what it was all about, she had decided to go, but since a train station is usually so full of people and she didn't want anything to happen to the nekos, she had wanted them to stay behind. They hadn't liked that idea, but now that Dane-kun was keeping them occupied they didn't seem to mind all that much.  
  
Funny how much they love having him around, Karin-sama thought as she drove, relishing the quiet. She shrugged.  
  
The real reason that Karin-sama was driving to the train station was in fact because Skippy had a big problem on her hands. Or rather, she had a little chibi-neko who caused big problems on her hands. Really, he'd been placed in five homes in the past five months and not one of them had been willing to keep him very long. He seemed perfectly fine to her, sure, he was a little quiet, prone to getting lost, and sometimes you wondered if there was anything going on inside his little black and white head, but he was still loveable enough in her eyes. Karin-sama was her last shot. Hadn't she managed five Gundam chibi-nekos class W for on to a year now with no problems? (Not that Skippy knew about anyway.) And the last episode they'd had with the Kenshin-gumi had ended well because of her too. Maybe she could get her to agree to take him for a little while, and then get them all attached to him. Maybe he could even live with Jilly-chan, who had much experience with nekos and had more space and could give him a little more one on one attention. Either way it seemed a good plan. If only. . .  
  
"Haru-chan? Haru-chan, where did you go?"  
  
If only he hadn't wandered away from her the moment she'd gotten off the train.  
  
After doing her rendition of a panicked parent running up and down the place shouting for him to return to her, she decided on a more logical course of action and had him paged. When that didn't work, she begged the guards to be on the look out for him, it wasn't like he was the most ordinary looking kid in the world so it shouldn't be a problem, and sat down to do the parent thing again and just cry. That's how Karin-sama found her an hour later. It wasn't Karin-sama's fault she was so late, it was just the message had really said ten thirty six instead of twelve twenty six. Not that Skippy noticed or anything, she was just relieved to see her old school chum who happened to be quite talented when it came to nekos.  
  
"Ano, Skippy? Is everything all right?" Skippy looked up tearfully at the words of concern. Immediately Karin-sama found herself firmly attached to a sobbing Skippy, who was wailing something about losing him and she'd been searching for him everywhere and how could he possibly have gotten lost right after they'd gotten off the train. This went on for a few minutes, and when it was finally dying down to mere snuffles of, "I hope nothing happens to him." Karin-sama decided to step in.  
  
"Skippy," she soothed, sitting her back down on the bench and giving the staring passers-by apologetic smiles. "How about you just calm down and tell me exactly what's going on so we can start in on fixing it?" Skippy beamed as she wiped her eyes. That's what she liked about Karin-sama, always so calm in the face of utter disaster.  
  
"Well," she sniffed. "I have a big problem on my hands, well actually, it's a little chibi-neko who causes --" Karin-sama closed her eyes and groaned softly.  
  
"Hello, little fella," said a new voice chibi-neko (can we really call him a neko?) Haru-chan had never heard before. But it was nice and quiet and friendly and obviously directed at him so he abandoned his plan to get a sandwich off of that concession stand that was too high for him to jump and turned to regard it.  
  
The man was tall, but so was everyone in the world in comparrison to him, with a shock of honey blonde hair and huge blue eyes that twinkled merrily at everything in the world. He had a big dopey grin on his face and . . . .oh great!. . .a sandwich in his hand. Haru-chan thought it'd be in his best interests to make this man his new best friend.   
  
"Hello," he replied politely enough, trying to keep his eyes off the food. Well, it had been a long trip and he was sure it was past lunchtime by now. He was rather hungry. The man, obviously delighted that he could speak, crouched down to give him a better look.  
  
"What are you doing here?" So his tone implied he thought Haru-chan was a child, but that could be overlooked provided he also thought that as such he was entitled to a little care. Like a sandwich for example. "Are you lost?"  
  
"Oh no," Haru-chan replied, reaching into his coat pocket. (Although it was still summer and not cold enough for coats, Haru-chan loved his dearly and wore it almost all the time.) Skippy had planned for something of this nature to happen, so she had given him a note to put in his pocket if he should get lost. Not that she had expected him to get lost so quickly, but at least she had thought of the possibility. The original note had read something like this.  
  
Hello, my name is Haru-chan and I am lost (even if I won't admit it). I'm supposed to be going to live with Karin or Jillian. Please take me back to her at this address. (Now Skippy didn't know Jillian's address, but she did know Karin-sama's so that was the only one she could put down at the bottom of the note, figuring Karin-sama would take care in providing the rest.)   
  
Unfortunately for the well meaning Skippy. Ok, not unfortunate for Skippy herself, but definitely for the young man who was now reading it, the note had been in Haru-chan's pocket for quite a while and he had a habit of shredding things in his pockets when he was bored. And it had been a very long train ride. The only piece left of the note read like this.  
  
*piece of or* Jillian. Please take me to her address. And luckily the address was still neat and clear at the bottom.   
  
Keisuke's eyes grew large as he read the note. Jillian? THE Jillian who he remembered so well from high school. The girl that made him fail English because she sat right next to him and he just couldn't concentrate. She might still live around here, and, now that he thought about it. . . .she had always loved these kinds of creatures. Keisuke did some mental calculations and decided it was in his best interests to do as the note said. She'd be so overjoyed that he'd been so considerate in returning her little lost lamb, though actually the lamb looked more like a cow pretending to be a cat, but the outcome would be the same.  
  
"All right, kid," Keisuke folded what was left of the note to consider the chibi thing at his feet. Lucky for him Haru-chan was now very hungry or he would have forgotten to stay put while he'd been reading the note and daydreaming.  
  
"Haru-chan," he corrected softly, bowing a little.  
  
"Oh, ok, Haru-chan, say are you hungry?" This was what Haru-chan had been waiting for. He happily munched on a sandwich as Keisuke drove them away from the train station, away from Skippy and Karin-sama, and right to where he thought Jillian would be waiting.   
  
"Wait a second, Skippy," Karin-sama was shaking her head incredulously. "Another one? You wanted me to take another one?" Skippy started sniffling again so Karin-sama calmed down.   
  
"But you do so well," she defended herself. "And I thought maybe, if you couldn't then Jillian could."  
  
"Jilly-chan?" Karin-sama wondered what would happen if Jilly-chan were given a neko of her own. Sure, she could baby-sit wonderfully, but sometimes she was a little absent minded.  
  
"But it's no good now since he's lost! Oh poor Haru-chan!" Karin-sama sweatdropped as she began to quell the fresh flood of tears. I hope Dane-kun and the guys are ok, she thought, since this was taking a bit more time then she'd been expecting.  
  
Dane-kun and the guys were actually quite fine and having fun. Dane-kun had brought over a large old tire that he had rigged up to a tree in the back for a wonderful swing, or a trapeze if you were Tro-chan, and all six of them were getting dizzy on it. Dane-kun was feeling fine. He had a bunch of chibi-nekos who weren't getting into any mischief, and Karin-chan would be coming home soon. Life was certainly good.   
  
Until Triby started to bark and fight his chain as an unidentified car crunched on the driveway. Dane-kun's eyes narrowed. He'd begun to be distrustful of cars that he didn't know. They usually meant trouble. Too bad for Keisuke that Dane-kun was already in a protective mood before he even stepped out of the car. Even worse when little Haru-chan came out on the other side. Dane-kun knew that fellas that came to the house with chibi-nekos were definitely bad news.  
  
"Stay here and wait for me, all right guys?" He told the nekos, who were quite curious but also remembered Andrew McKinnley and therefore did as they were told. Dane-kun shifted his shoulders into a football quarterback stance (all right, so he'd been a benchwarmer but this guy didn't know that) and marched out to the front where the man was now hurrying toward the porch with the chibi-neko and . . .a dozen red roses?  
  
"She's not home," Dane-kun barked, making the young man jump. He turned to look at him, smiling broadly.  
  
"Oh, hello," he waved with the roses, taking in Dane-kun's grass stained shirt and rope rough hands, but failing to notice the glare and the dark cloud that had suddenly surrounded our normally jovial friend. "You must be the gardener." Dane-kun took a step back, confused. He was about to correct this insolent person's thinking, but there wasn't time. "She really did well for herself, I see. Who would ever have thought she would end up living in a place like this? I mean, sure she was brilliant in English, at least, I think she was brilliant. I didn't really listen to her, but she seemed to know a lot of the answers, and she kept her pencil poised just so when she was thinking hard about something." Dane-kun's heart started racing. Who was this guy? "And now she's gone and made something of her life. What a beautiful house. Are you the only servant? I bet she's got a few more just to keep the place up. Wow! Say," his eyes grew dreamy. "Does she still hold her head like this when she wants to tell you something?" He demonstrated, looking a little feminine himself. Dane-kun scowled, not liking this person who obviously had known Karin-sama for a long time, though he couldn't exactly remember how she held her head when she wanted to tell him something. This of course, only made him more upset that he hadn't paid attention.  
  
"Not that I've noticed," he growled, but the man didn't notice the tone.   
  
"No, I guess you wouldn't. You would have seen the more commanding side of her. Of course, she could give orders like a drill sargeant when she had to. Ah, but she was so kind. And we'll finally be reunited after all these years. Don't worry, my dear English neighbor, Keisuke has come back to save the day!"  
  
"What in blazes are you talking about?" Dane-kun interrupted as this Keisuke person had clutched the roses to his chest in a most dramatic gesture. He paused, blinking as he considered Dane-kun again, obviously wondering how he could have interrupted his fantasies so casually.  
  
"Why, I have brought home her little friend here," he spread his arm down to show Dane-kun Haru-chan, who was surprisingly standing still through all the chatter. "He was lost, you see, and knowing how upset my dear classmate would be at his disappearance, I have returned him home to her."  
  
"I told you, she's not here. Besides, he's not from this house." Keisuke blinked in confusion at that one.  
  
"Perhaps you've just never seen him. Maybe he's never come into the gardens for you to notice that he lived here. Gardeners don't have to know everything . . "  
  
"I am NOT the gardener!" Well, he was, but not in the way that Keisuke was thinking. "And I have never seen that little guy before in my life!" And I would have remembered if I had, Dane-kun thought, the funny looking little thing. He was chibi-neko cute in the sense that all chibi-nekos are just adorable, but he was a little odd. His hair was dead white, but it was also dead black underneath. His ears were kind of cat like, but they were shaped a little differently and always pointed downward, as if he were upset about something. And his tail had a funny tip, bushier than the rest of it. He looks like a cow, (ahem, technical term because Haru-chan is a boy. . .he's an ox, but if we can call him a neko we can call him a cow thus) He looks like a cow, Dane-kun finally decided, pretending to be a neko.  
  
"If he doesn't belong here then why did he have this note with him?" Keisuke flashed it out, hiding Jillian's name with his thumb, but Dane-kun could read the rest of it. He cut off what he had been going to say. It was the right address so there must be no mistake.  
  
"Where did ya find him?" He finally asked.  
  
"At the train station. He was wandering around lost." Dane-kun nodded, getting the full picture now. "So if you could contact your sweet employer so we could get this straightened out, I'd be so delighted. We could call up her cook or someone to leave him with while I sweep her out for a romantic evening on the town." Dane-kun fought his anger. How dare he brush him off so easily? "How about you, sir? You could take care of him while I catch up on old times couldn't you?"  
  
"She's not my employer." Keisuke slumped his shoulders. Really, some people just didn't know their place. He decided to play along.  
  
"Then what are you doing here?" Dane-kun paused. He was baby-sitting, but darn it, he couldn't say that to this guy. It would only prove his point. He needed to be something else, a little bit more than a friend, and definitely better than neighbor. So he said the first thing that came to his mind, which wasn't exactly the truth and if Karin-sama had heard would have gotten him into a bit of trouble.  
  
"I happen to be her boyfriend," he summoned as much arrogance as he could, which wasn't a lot since Dane-kun, while rambunctious and ambitious, was really quite humble. Keisuke wilted slightly, but resumed his former attitude in less then a minute.  
  
"Really? How interesting," his voice pitched low. "Boyfriend, not husband. I've still got a chance!"  
  
"What was that?" Dane-kun bent his head as Keisuke was shorter than him, and almost got his eye taken out by the roses which were suddenly waving as Keisuke gestured.  
  
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. Delighted for the both of you, truly. But, uh, I really would love to see her one more time, for old times sake, you know." Dane-kun didn't know if he liked that idea, but knew that Karin-sama wouldn't want him to be rude, especially to one of her old friends. "So," Keisuke prompted. "When are you expecting her home?"  
  
"She'll be back soon. She had an errand to run." Dane-kun clenched his teeth, trying to smile. "Won't you please come in?" Keisuke gave him a lop-sided grin of challenge and swept past him into the house.  
  
"You too little guy," Dane-kun looked down to where the chibi-neko had been standing, only to find that he was no where on the porch. How 'bout that, he scratched his head. That little'un's sneakier than Duo-chan! He would have begun a search for him, but at that moment he heard a loud "wow!" from inside the house and decided to hurry in and keep Keisuke out of trouble.  
  
*MEANWHILE*  
  
"Karin-sama? Hi, what's going on? What's all the background noise for, you watching a movie or something?" Jilly-chan's voice was cheerful as always. Karin-sama leaned against the payphone booth, keeping a devastated Skippy in her sight. There was still no sign of Haru-chan.  
  
"Actually, I'm at the train station. It looks like I'll be here for a while yet so I was wondering if you could stop by the house and check to see if everything's ok. I'm sure Dane-kun's going to be needing a little help keeping things under control." Jilly-chan, having spent a rather long morning (thank goodness it was only a morning) listening to old women complain about their health care insurance and asking odd questions, was delighted at the opportunity to get out of the house and of course to see her beloved nekos.  
  
"Really, Karin-sama? Great, I'll head right over." She gleefully hung up the phone and hurried to grab her car keys. Wouldn't the chibi-nekos be surprised when they saw her!  
  
The chibi-nekos were already surprised, but it wasn't because Jilly-chan was coming. They were surprised because a chibi-neko they had never seen before had just wandered into their backyard, and was now petting Triby. They blinked at each other.  
  
"Who's that?" Duo-chan asked to no one in particular. Wu-chan shrugged, but Quatre-chan, trusting little soul that he was, was already on his way over to greet the potentially new friend.  
  
"Hello," he began politely, and gaining the attention of the as yet unidentified chibi-neko. "I'm Quatre-chan, and those guys back there are Heero-chan, Duo-chan, Tro-chan, and Wu-chan. What's your name?" He smiled encouragingly.  
  
"Haru-chan," he said quietly, looking over Quatre-chan's shoulder at the others.  
  
"Would you like to come play with us?"   
  
"No," and he went back to petting Triby. Quatre-chan was taken aback. That wasn't the right answer. Who was he anyway? Why was he suddenly in their backyard and where in the world was Dane-kun? Not knowing what to do, Quatre-chan hurried back to where the four were huddled for some guidance.  
  
"So who is he?" Duo-chan asked again as they all clustered around him to get some information.  
  
"His name is Haru-chan."  
  
"Why didn't you bring him back with you?" Tro-chan asked gently, hoping that Quatre-chan hadn't forgotten his manners. Quatre-chan pouted slightly.  
  
"He said he didn't want to play with us." This confused them all.  
  
"Didn't want to play?" Duo-chan was incredulous, this went against his reasoning of the world. He gazed over to where Haru-chan was wandering in a circle around Triby's dog house. Triby was looking a little confused himself. "Why not?"  
  
"Maybe," Quatre-chan thought suddenly. "Maybe he doesn't like me. Maybe I said something wrong to make him upset and think we're not nice and would be mean to him if he played with us. Oh no!" Tro-chan immediately put his arm around his friend.  
  
"I don't think so Quatre-chan. You only asked for his name, right?" Quatre-chan nodded, but still furrowed his forehead in worry.  
  
"Well, whoever he is, I don't think he should be mean to Quatre-chan," Wu-chan puffed out his cheeks. Everyone silently agreed, but apparently only Wu-chan was prepared to act on it, already walking over to where Haru-chan was sitting on the roof of the dog house.  
  
"Wu-chan," Tro-chan started his warning too late. "I don't think that's such a good idea," he finished in a voice too soft for anyone to hear.  
  
"What's he doing?" Heero-chan wondered aloud, fingering his pistol that he wouldn't get to use now that Wu-chan had taken matters into his own hands.  
  
"Hey you," Wu-chan began very clearly staring up at the black and white haired chibi who was rudely sitting on Triby's roof. Triby tried to lick the chinese chibi's face, but Wu-chan ducked under him neatly. "Why don't you want to play with us?" He figured he'd let him have one last chance to at least explain himself.  
  
"I just don't. It's more fun sitting up here." Wu-chan blinked. He wondered if this answer constituted as a good reason. Triby, feeling ignored, whined a little. Wu-chan misunderstood.  
  
"I don't think Triby likes you sitting on his roof," he translated the whine.   
  
"That's too bad," Haru-chan said idly, not really wanting to be mean. He really wasn't paying attention to what was going on because he could see far off into the trees and was thinking about what might be over there that could prove interesting. However, Wu-chan was beginning to bristle.  
  
"You'd better come down, and apologize to Quatre-chan too." This gained the strange neko's attention and he looked down, shocked, at the furious Wu-chan staring up at him.  
  
"Why?" He asked, forgetting what he'd done that might have gotten this person so upset. The question didn't seem to be taken very well either. What was going on? It just wasn't making sense. The whole day wasn't making sense. He'd started out on a strange noisy thing that moved very fast with a flighty woman who smiled at him a lot and told him what a dear he was. She'd left him at that place with all the people. He hadn't liked that very much, but he'd made it out okay with that man who had given him the sandwich. Where had he gotten to? Seemed to Haru-chan that he was being left behind a lot today, and this was rather upsetting since he still couldn't understand why he had had to leave his new bedroom a few days ago. He'd grown rather attached to it, and this definitely wasn't an improvement. Well, the trees were nice to look at, but. . . .  
  
Haru-chan heard a yell that sounded suspiciously like himself. Why was he yelling? Oh, because he was really mad and that other neko had just made it worse.   
  
Lucky for Wu-chan he was a good fighter. Haru-chan leaped down from the roof and collided into him. Another few moments and it was a full-fledged chibi-neko battle with the distant sounds of Duo-chan yelling one or the other on, Quatre-chan trying not to cry while trying to stop them, and Heero-chan's water pistol squirting over them.   
  
Tro-chan, sensible chibi that he is, went first into the house to see if he could locate Dane-kun. He'd be able to stop this and probably explain a little bit more about why Haru-chan was there. At least, he hoped he could. Tro-chan was starting to miss Karin-sama.  
  
He found Dane-kun in the kitchen with yet another stranger, each glaring at the other over their teacups. A bunch of roses were resting on the table, though they were starting to look a little wilted. When he entered, Dane-kun leaped to his feet, ready to accept anything that would get him out of the company of this young wacko who was pestering him with questions now about how long he'd known Karin-sama and how they had gotten into their current (if made-up) relationship and so on.  
  
"Hey there, Tro-chan," Dane-kun rustled his hair. "Whatcha up to? Need something?"  
  
"There's a new chibi-neko in the backyard," Tro-chan informed him.   
  
"Oh! So that's where he got off to."  
  
"Fighting with Wu-chan," Tro-chan finished. He hoped Dane-kun would hurry to stop them, they were starting to get their clothes dirty. And Triby was beginning to bark as well.  
  
"What?" Tro-chan wondered why Dane-kun always asked 'what' and then didn't wait for him to repeat himself. If you were going to ask a question, you should at least stick around to hear the answer. Otherwise, why ask the question to begin with? But once again, Dane-kun was out the door before Tro-chan could put this logic to him. He sighed a little, then looked at the other man at the table, wondering if he might know the solution to Dane-kun's questioning problem. The man suddenly wore an expression that said he wanted to poke at Tro-chan to see how he was put together. Tro-chan was used to these kinds of looks and decided that maybe he'd better just follow Dane-kun before this new guy got any ideas.  
  
"What do ya think you're doing?" Dane-kun was asking yet another question he didn't want answered as he held the two chibi-nekos by their collars away from each other. Wu-chan, admonished, was holding quite still and gazing at the ground, but the other one was still struggling to get at him. "Calm down!" Dane-kun roared, and everyone held still, shocked. Tro-chan paused at the doorway, but realized that Dane-kun wasn't yelling at him, so he hurried over to comfort Quatre-chan and watch what was going to happen.  
  
"Wu-chan, I'm surprised. What's Karin-sama going to say?" Wu-chan's eyes grew very, very large.  
  
"You're not going to tell her!" He squeaked.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to. What were ya thinking?"  
  
"He was mean to Quatre-chan."  
  
"Well, then Quatre-chan should be handling it, not you." Dane-kun only said this because he knew there was no way in the world that Quatre-chan would fight anyone. He sighed, letting Wu-chan go. "How about you go and get yerself cleaned up? You can wait in your room until Karin-sama gets home." Wu-chan trembled a bit as he thought of what Karin-sama would say when she heard what he'd done, but obediently scampered off to get into some cleaner clothes.  
  
"As for you," Dane-kun released the cow-neko, but didn't get to say anything else because the slippery little devil sprinted off toward the front of the house. Dane-kun's mouth dropped open. He'd never seen a chibi-neko behave like this one. Well, he thought, can't be helped if he lives with that nutcase I left in the house. Upon realizing that Keisuke was indeed alone in the house, Dane-kun stood to hurry back in.  
  
"Be good you four!" He called over his shoulder as he ran inside, just in time to answer the telephone a split second before Keisuke had touched the receiver.  
  
"Hello!" He panted a little, collapsing on the couch and throwing another glare Keisuke's way.  
  
"Dane-kun?" Came a tired, worried voice that Dane-kun recognized immediately. "What's going on? Is everything all right?"  
  
"That's what I should be asking you," Dane-kun flashed a look of challenge toward Keisuke. "Honey."  
  
"Ano. . ." Karin-sama was definitely having one of those days.  
  
"Did something happen to the car? We've been wondering where you've been." Another glare. "I was starting to get worried." Keisuke folded his arms tightly to his chest.  
  
"Yes, about that. I'm still at the train station with Skippy. We've lost someone. I called Jilly-chan, so she should be getting there pretty soon. I don't know how long it'll be until we find him."  
  
"Him?" Dane-kun now looked over at Keisuke suspiciously, wondering if he had kidnapped the neko just so he'd have an excuse to come and see Karin-sama.   
  
"Yes, he's a chibi-neko that Skippy wanted me to look after. Don't worry, I'm not, but Jilly-chan could, maybe, and I really don't want him to be lost. He must be so scared."  
  
"Actually," Dane-kun slumped his shoulders a little. "He's here. Or he was. . ." He could almost hear Karin-sama gripping the phone.  
  
"He's there!? How did he get there?"  
  
"An old school mate of yers brought him."  
  
"School mate? Of mine?"  
  
"Yeah, he's waiting to see you." There came a very tired sigh.  
  
"Well, then I guess there's no point staying here. I'll be home soon, ok?"  
  
"Ok, love. Bye bye." Dane-kun hung up before she could ask him what that was all about. For several seconds Karin-sama stared at the beeping payphone, debating her hearing. Finally she shrugged. It didn't matter, she decided. She was going home!  
  
Haru-chan hurried back into the front yard, hoping to find the sandwich man since he'd been pretty nice. That other person in the back wasn't someone he thought he'd like to be around for very long. He glanced over his shoulder to see if he were being followed. . .and ran right into something.   
  
He fell backwards at the impact, and looked up to see a very pretty lady with sweet potato hair and a very friendly, if a little surprised, smile on her face. He decided he liked her, who ever she was.  
  
"Help!" He chirped and jumped into her arms. She held him securely, which was nice, and stroked one of his ears.  
  
"Help? What? Who're you?"  
  
"I'm Haru-chan," he supplied his name for her. "And I'm running away." This brought a little giggle from the lady.  
  
"Really? Where?" Haru-chan realized then that he didn't really want to run away, so he just sighed and curled closer to this new person who was wearing a really soft shirt.  
  
"Right here," he said as he closed his eyes. Jilly-chan gazed down in wonder at this new arrival to the home. But she didn't have long to wonder because there were now other squeaks coming up to her very fast.  
  
"Jilly-chan! Jilly-chan's here!" Within a few moments she was surrounded by overjoyed little Gundam chibi-nekos.  
  
"What are you doing here, Jilly-chan?"  
  
"Where's Karin-sama? Is she coming home soon?"  
  
"How's Ginny?" (Ginny being the kitten Tro-chan had given her for her birthday.)  
  
"Can you stay for tea?" Jilly-chan laughed.  
  
"I'm here because Karin-sama is at the train station and she doesn't know how long. Ginny is great, and I would love to stay for tea!" Jilly-chan was really enjoying herself. But then the nekos noticed Haru-chan in her arms.  
  
"What's he still doing here?"  
  
"Why is he with you, Jilly-chan?" She didn't have a chance to answer this one, because by this time the people of the house had finally realized that there was a car in the driveway and to Keisuke's delight, there stood his Jillian in all her freckled glory.   
  
"Oh good," Dane-kun was relieved. "Jilly-chan is here." He was just on his way out to greet her, but Keisuke had retrieved his roses and was sprinting for her in a very chibi-neko like fashion.  
  
"Jillian!" He cried. "Oh it's been so long! How have you been? Here, these are for you." He thrust the roses at her only to find that she had her arms full of Haru-chan. "Oh, I see you've found Haru-chan. I brought him back to you, you know. Poor little fellow was lost in the train station, but as you can see, I have rescued him and brought him safe and sound." Jilly-chan was staring at him in disbelief. She was about to ask him what in the world he was talking about when her mind suddenly brought up a picture of a geeky pimpled kid who used to sit next to her in English class. Her eyes widened. He'd changed!  
  
"Keisuke?" She guessed, and sent him off into rapture.  
  
"You remember me! Oh how wonderful. You really have done well for yourself with this grand house and everything," he gestured behind him at the mansion and Dane-kun coming down the steps. "It was so nice that I mistook your boyfriend there for the gardener!" He paused to laugh, which gave Jilly-chan only a small chance to catch up with what was going on.  
  
"Boyfriend?" She worried her lower lip and looked down at Haru-chan for assistance. When that didn't work, she looked to Tro-chan for assistance. And when that didn't work she decided to give up.  
  
"Hey there Jilly-chan," Dane-kun strode over. "Glad you could make it." He leaned closer. "Sorry 'bout this fella here. He's an old friend of Karin-sama's." He rolled his eyes.  
  
"Really?" Jilly-chan beamed, glad to have a change of subject and turned to Keisuke. "I had no idea that you knew Karin-sama too!" It was Keisuke's turn to blink.  
  
"Who?" Dane-kun's eyes got extremely large at the word. What did he say? Jilly-chan also, was still confused.  
  
"Well, she lives here. This is her house, not mine." Jilly-chan was starting to laugh. "You thought I lived here? Why would you think that?" Keisuke was beginning to look a little sheepish, but, trying to save some of his pride, he pulled out the note Haru-chan had given him back at the station.  
  
"Look," he brandished it. "It says you live here." Jilly-chan looked and indeed it did say that, but the paper sure looked funny.  
  
"What happened to it?" She asked innocently, which caused Haru-chan to dig in his own pockets, only to pull out a handful of paper shreds.  
  
"Sorry," he chirped calmly, no longer the frustrated and upset chibi-neko he had been while fighting with Wu-chan. "Here's the rest of the note." Keisuke blinked again, then sighed. Haru-chan was about ready to apologize to the other chibi-nekos who were clustered around his new friend too, but there wasn't time yet because Keisuke had realized something and had brightened up again.  
  
"So if you don't live here. . .then it was all a misunderstanding!" He grinned at Dane-kun, about ready to shake his hand. "And I can take you out to dinner tonight!" Tro-chan pursed his lips, he didn't like the sound of that, but the chibi-nekos were still being ignored by all the tall people.  
  
"Um," Jilly-chan paused. "I think we'd better wait for Karin-sama to come back. I told her I'd help Dane-kun with the nekos." With her exquisite timing, Karin-sama's car pulled in behind Jilly-chan's right then and both she and a very disheveled looking Skippy got out. Skippy rushed Jilly-chan, taking Haru-chan from her.  
  
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" She was almost crying. "We were looking everywhere for you. Please don't ever do that again!" Haru-chan patted her cheek, not remembering what exactly he'd done that he should never do again but deciding he'd better agree with her.  
  
"Ok," he said quietly, and she set him down to where the other nekos had decided to give him another chance. It looked like he'd been through a rough time at the station. Besides, they wanted to hear about what one of those was like.  
  
"Maybe you can explain this," Jilly-chan began, handing the remains of the note to Skippy, who didn't look like she wanted to do anything except crawl into a bed and not move for days.  
  
"Oh dear me," she fretted. "I had no idea he'd do that to it. It had Karin-sama's name on it too, and his name for that matter. I'm so sorry, Jillian, I didn't know what your address was or I would have put it there too."  
  
"It's all right," Karin-sama comforted her. "Why don't you go on inside and freshen up? Take a nap even, there's an extra room. We'll call you down when tea is ready." Skippy had never looked so grateful as she took her leave.  
  
"And you," Karin-sama turned to Keisuke. "You must be the one who brought him home. Thank you, I appreciate it." She studied him for a moment. "But you must forgive me. I can't remember who you are. What class were we in together?"  
  
"Don't worry about it, Karin-chan," Dane-kun told her, rolling his eyes heavenward. She gave him a glance that was every bit worried.  
  
"But you said he was --" Keisuke waved a hand at her.  
  
"It's all right," he explained. "Look at the note. I thought Jillian lived here, we used to have an English class together, so I decided I'd like to see her again when I found the little guy alone at the station. I stopped by, nice house by the way, to drop him off and hopefully she'd remember me. I must admit I was quite disappointed when I thought that she had --"  
  
"Say, why don't we all head inside?" Dane-kun interrupted quickly, rubbing his hands together. Everyone looked at him curiously. "Karin-chan, you look dead beat," he hurried to explain. "Wouldn't you like a chair?"  
  
"Actually," she was still considering him. What was up with his odd attitude today? Had he been like that this morning? She couldn't remember. . it seemed so long ago. "Yes, I would. Hey, everyone, yes, hello Haru-chan, delighted to finally see you and glad you've made some friends, let's all go inside now all right? Wait a second," she counted heads. "Where's Wu-chan?" Dane-kun quickly explained about the skirmish earlier. Karin-sama slumped a bit.  
  
"I'd better go talk to him."  
  
"Can I come?" Haru-chan asked. "I want to say I'm sorry."  
  
"I bet he'll like that. Yes, come along, and the rest of you can just make yourselves comfortable."  
  
Wu-chan was rather surprised that he wasn't scolded, and readily accepted Haru-chan's apology, making one of his own. Glad that everything was finally running smoothly, Karin-sama sent them both back downstairs to join the rest of the bunch.  
  
"Now that Karin-sama's back," Keisuke grinned. "Would you like me to take you to dinner, Jillian?"  
  
"Oh please," Karin-sama broke in before Jilly-chan could answer. She could see that Jilly-chan wasn't really ready to go out alone with this person she hadn't seen in so long so quickly after they were reunited. She decided to bail her out. "You've done us such a favor in bringing Haru-chan back. Please let me return it. I'd love it if you were to stay and have dinner with us." Since Keisuke was a noble creature and knew that this obviously elegant person would be dreadfully insulted if he were to refuse, he smiled and nodded. Karin-sama clapped her hands.  
  
"Wonderful!"  
  
So Karin-sama and Jilly-chan made dinner while Skippy napped. The chibi-nekos were trying to recreate a train from Haru-chan's description, and Dane-kun and Keisuke were patching things up in the living room where Karin-sama couldn't hear. Everything seemed to be going well again, the dinner was fantastic, everyone was happy, Jilly-chan had agreed to take Haru-chan since she thought he was especially darling and she had always wanted a chibi-neko but she didn't think she could handle more than one, this made Skippy elated and it wasn't until dessert that Jilly-chan finally remembered what had been troubling her back when they were still sorting things out.  
  
"Boyfriend?" She cocked her head and stared pointedly at Dane-kun, who was sitting across from her. He choked on his pie, flushing.  
  
"Oh, that reminds me," Karin-sama added. Dane-kun blushed harder, making her smile. "Something you said while we were on the phone earlier," she went on, and Dane-kun looked about ready to slide under the table. "The car," she grinned and Dane-kun's eyes widened. He managed to swallow.  
  
"Yes?" He asked, hoping to dodge out of this somehow.  
  
"I think it needs the oil changed." He sighed in pure relief, until she leaned over to him. "Love," she whispered in his ear. He stared at her, wondering if she was meaning what he thought she might be meaning, then smiled.  
  
"Ah," sighed Jilly-chan. "This is a new twist."  
  
"What is?" Haru-chan asked at her elbow while Tro-chan simply gazed at her from her other side.  
  
"Never mind," she told them, then kissed Haru-chan on the tip of his ear. "You did want to come home with me, right Haru-chan?"  
  
"Oh yes!!" She nodded, then leaned over to Tro-chan and kissed his ear too.  
  
"Don't worry," she soothed. "I still love you." He beamed, hugged her arm, and then happily settled down to finish his own slice of pie.  
  
"How about me?" Keisuke asked her from his place on the other side of Tro-chan. "Do you still love me?" Jilly-chan gave him a glance, and grinned. 


End file.
